Decent Idea....Not Very Good Movie

Rating: 4/10 (29 April 2005)

"28 Days Later" would be a much better movie if the film makers had known what story they wanted to tell. As it is, they start with a high-concept apocalyptic plague premise that degenerates into a slap-dash, jumbled action movie. I suppose Danny Boyle and screenwriter are trying to make the idea of people being infected with rage relevant to our current troubled world state (the film begins with an image of multiple T.V. monitors each showing news footage of one violent action or another), but I think they are much more taken with the idea of making a gross-out movie that will appeal to the alternative grunge crowd, not realizing that grunge is now cliché. What is supposed to feel cutting edge feels stale and like something you've seen done before and done better. The movie gets kudos from me for its visual look, and I do admit that it's never boring, but there's a general feeling of senseless nastiness that negates any message you're going to get from this.
Grade: C